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Explanation

Mental Edge: the development of creative, critical and caring thinking skills including an emphasis on questioning and metacognition. From: GKP

During the first two weeks the kids have been learning about all of the above types of thinking and in particular have engaged in activities that have fostered their creative thinking skills.

We researched creativity and found many different ideas associated with its meaning. In conclusion the kids came up with a few generalisations and in particular decided that creativity is: about making connections, not always inventing something new but being open to trying new ways of doing things. It is about looking for different solutions to problems and being flexible in your thinking, being a risk-taker.


There are 4 main areas in creative thinking, therefore we have been looking at:

Fluency

This is the ability to come up with a large amount of ideas.
Here is an example of what you can do to become fluent in your thinking - have a go:
List things that jump. See how many ideas you can come up with in 3 minutes.

Flexibility

This is the ability to come up with a variety of ideas.
Here is an example to help you - have a go:
List as many uses as you can for a brick. See how many ideas you can come up with in 3 minutes. What different types of ideas did you come up with?

Originality

This is the ability to come up with new and original ideas.
The example above with the uses of a brick could also conjure up original ideas. They do not have to be able to actually work. An example could be - a hairbrush for a giant.

Elaboration

This is adding to and expanding the ideas you have.
For example, you may start with a squiggle on your page. Add to it to come up with something new and different. Keep adding to it to change it and maybe add words to it also.

Creativity

Photos

Here are some photos showing the kids engaged in mental edge activities:

Ben and Campbell concentrate on their construction	Ben and Campbell working to make their construction higher	Kaleb and Kayla work hard to attach their construction to the table
Kaleb, Kayla and Brady attach the strings to the table	The finished product.	Spongebob finished
A finished bird puppet with moving wings	Kayla with the finished puppet with moving eyes	A finished puppet with moving head

Junior Class

The Tikipunga Kids then shared their puppets with the junior class at Tikipunga School:

Invention Key

In this exercise, the kids were given situations that they had to solve using known implements, eg. You have been assigned the job of collecting moon sample from the surface of the moon, using a toothpick, Elvis Presley's guitar, a calculator and a badminton racquet. Explain how your expedition will be successful. Here are some of the creative "invention key" work:

What If? Key

In this exercise the students had to think critically about a situation that would not be practical but invokes a lot of thought. Here was their task:

What if humans could only see things in black and white? Below are some of their most creative and critical thoughts (Dargaville students only):

There would be no fashion.	3D movies would not be able to be made.	There would be no "Wow" factor.	Racism may drop.	No-one would fight over clothes - like one t-shirt of one colour left.	The word 'colour' may no longer exist.	You wouldn't know the difference between a sewage pond and a clean water pond.	The world would be dull and more people could suffer from depression.	We would still have black and white TVs.	The rainbow would be boring.
It could be difficult to distinguish between animals.	It would be hard to know which is your car.	Computers may not have been invented.	Nature would be boring.	We would all have either black or white eyes and black or white hair.	Traffic lights would be difficult to read.	A lot of technology may not have been invented.	There would be no such thing as colour blindness.	You could only get clothes in 2 colours.	Industries would not be so big as many rely on colours for their goods.
The forest would be very dark.	The moon would be hard to see.	People wouldn't have to dye their hair.	It would hard to tell the difference between night and day.	Many artists who are famous now may not have been discovered.	Fires might be hard to see or control.	There would only be black and white paint.	It might be hard to find a bad guy.	Many houses might look the same so you might find it hard to know which is yours.	It might be hard to see boats out on the sea so collisions might happen more.
The Mona Lisa may not be so famous or may not even exist.	Camouflague would be easy peasy.	Coloured pencils wouldn't exist.	Creativity mightn't exist.	Fashion would be simple.	Jewels would remain unknown.	There would be pretty much no smell.	Day and night would be very similar.	We wouldn't waste so much ink.	Houses would look the same, eg. carpets and curtains.
You wouldn't know that you were sunburnt except by the feel of it.	The sun would look black.	You wouldn't be able to tell the land from the sea.	You couldn't see some things as they would blend into the background.	If you collect things that might all look the same.	You wouldn't know if you won a first, second or third place.	Old people's hair would look the same as young people's hair.	You wouldn't tell if food was cooked properly, eg. burnt toast.	You might be 'black-blind' or 'white-blind' but not colourblind.	Spongebob would be black!
You could get away with not cleaning your teeth!	We wouldn't be able to see storm clouds or tornadoes easily.	It would be difficult for doctors to distinguish different blood types.	Planes might crash into each other more often.	The famous Ford statement will come back into existence.	It would be easier to see at night.	It might be difficult to spot dangerous animals.	All school uniforms would be the same.	There wouldn't be much of a choice for your favourite colour.	You would have to rely more heavily on smell, hearing and touch.
It would change scientists perspectives on living things.	We wouldn't know about hot and cold planets.	It would be difficult to know much about diseases such as melanoma as you wouldn't know what is causing the harm.	The risk of being blind would be higher.	If you are mixing chemicals you might mix the wrong thing causing more disasters.	Your eyesight wouldn't be as good.	Night vision goggles wouldn't be as effective.	There wouldn't be so many painters.	It would be difficult to identify plants.	You wouldn't see stars at night.
You wouldn't be able to tell if food was off or not causing more people to be sick.	Maybe colourblind people would be able to see colours.	Things like carrots and turnips would be hard to distinguish.	There would be less names for animals as they may look the same, eg. zebras and horses.	Animals may not be killed as much as their coats would be the same colour.	Babies may get switched more often at birth.	Everyone may need to wear glasses.	Books would look like old-time books because nothing would be able to change.	Sports would change because it would be hard to see the ball, eg. in cricket.

Imagination

In this exercise the kids were given a ripped piece of paper. They all received the same shape and had to create picture of some sort with their piece. You can be the judge of the originality of these creations. Look closely for the shape that is the starting point of each picture:

A medieval castle	Clouds behind the Eiffel Tower	Hang-gliding

A slightly different shape but same idea for the different classes:

An Easter Island statue		Hogwart's Graveyard
Folded into a rocket	An environmental poster	A treasure trove
A fun slide		A hula skirt
A sad reality		The Statue of Liberty
Add another shape the same	Folded to make a table and chairs

What is a "Crocododdlebugaboo"?

Task: Draw a Crocododdlebugaboo. Elaborate your idea by adding labels and telling us what it does, where it is found and what it looks like. Here are some of the amazing creatures:

What Happened the Next Day?

For this activity the kids had to choose a well known story (preferably a nursery rhyme or a fairy tale) and make a change to tell what happens next. There were some very humorous and clever stories.

Here are a few:

Mihi:

LITTLE MISS MUFFET
The next day, diary entries occurred. Little Miss Muffet 23.04.72 Dear Diary, Yesterday was AWFUL! I was happily sitting under my favourite bung bung tree when a huge tarantula appeared. I screamed and ran away. When I arrived at the house I got spanked with a wooden spoon by mother and sent to bed. Why? Because I left her favourite dish outside! Boohoo! The spider The next day written in her diary...... 23.04.72 Dear Diary, Yesterday was pretty damn kewl! Ok, so there's this real ugly girl, right? Yeah, and she is sitting under my tree. She was eating something......so.......I thinks to myself, "Harold, you could score yourself a free feed, mate!" So, seeing as I am a polite spider, I goes down to ask her for a cup of tea. I was quite offended when she ran away screaming. God, you don't have time to shave EVERY day! Well, so there I was, in front of her bowl of grub. Not your average KFC, but better than maggot pie. So I eat it all up! Little Miss Muffet's mother 23.04.72 Dear diary, I was very disgusted at Muffy's behaviour yesterday! First she gives me all this piggyhiggle about some red-eyed, hairy bottomed ('scuze my French!) man-eating, 26 legged, curly haired, obese spider and to add to that she leaves my best plate outside! My spoon had something to say about that! Despicable! Spider's mother 23.04.72 Dear diary, I was so proud of Harold yesterday. He completed his first successful ambush. He is too polite though! His father and I have been so worried. He never acts like a spider, more like a fairy unicorn pegasus! But I wasn't impressed when I had to stay up half the night with Harold puking from food poisoning! The doctor said he had eaten something called, "Coodles and weight". He doesn't need any more of either of those things!
MIHI

Danielle C:

HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE
Hey Diddle Diddle the cat and the fiddle The cow jumped over the moon The little dog laughed to see such fun And the dish ran away with the spoon! Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Summer. She lived on a far away planet called Sytereminarcorda. Summer had a cat called Swet that liked playing the fiddle. She lived on a big farm, with only one cow. Her next door neighbour had a dog called Patricia that laughed alot. They were living in the year 3052. Anyway, one day Summer was out in the paddock cleaning up the cow's mess, when she looked up and saw the moon. She tilted her head a little and saw a white and black figure flying towards the moon! She looked around the paddock to find that Tylsa, her cow, wasn't there anymore. Everything soon started to make sense...her cow was up in the sky, wanting to jump over the moon! Suddenly she heard a whizzing sound. She knew that the cow had hit his target. She quickly looked up at the moon then down at the paddock. Swet was playing the fiddle, once again! She observed the moon again and soon saw Tylsa jumping, jumping, jumping over the moon. Her next door neighbour Lisa, was watching all of the action with her little dog Patricia. Patricia wasn't barking, she was laughing as usual! Summer walked into the kitchen to find a dish searching through a cutlery drawer, trying to find the spoon! The spoon suddenly jumped out of the drawer and ran away with the dish! Summer was getting confused, but she let it all go and went to bed. When she awoke she got up to check the house. But no-one was there! She didn't care now, she could relax and enjoy the rest of the summer break. Suddenly Summer heard a big crash in the backyard. She went to go check it out, but nothing was there! She walked around the whole property and found nothing, so she decided to go back inside to do the chores. But while she was doing the dishes, she heard another loud noise. She got scared and went outside to see what was happening. She walked around the corner of the newly styled farmhouse, and saw the animals sitting having a tea party in the backyard! She laughed loudly and thought in her head, "Here we go again!"
Danielle - Dargaville

Caitlin K:

BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP
Baa Baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full One for the master and one for the dame And one for the little boy who lived down the lane The next day.... Baa Baa black sheep, have you any wool? Umm, no! I gave it all away yesterday, duh! I told you when you asked! Well okay then, no need to get all snotty with me! The next day Baa Baa black sheep, have you any wool? Oh my gosh! As I told you yesterday, I DO NOT HAVE ANY WOOL!! Okay, okay. Gosh, anger much! The next day... Baa Baa black sheep have you any wool? AAARRRGGG!! (Screaming) HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU? I DON'T HAVE ANY WOOL!! Wow! Spaz much!! I was just asking! The next day Baa Baa black she--- For the last time, do NOT ask me whether I have any wool or not! Why? Because it annoys me! Plus....I've already told you! How many times do I have to tell you that to get it in your head? Sheep stalks off!!
Caitlin - Dargaville

Tamer:

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Alice wandered through the woods. Her blonde hair, scooped into a high ponytail, was bobbing as she walked. Her eyes shone bright and curious. She let her eyelids flutter shut, taking in the sweet scent of the wild flowers. She was so engulfed in her own thoughts, she didn't see Snow White lying in front of her. Alice stumbled, catching the nearby branch of an apple tree. She glanced at Snow White adn the crimson apple in her hand. The blood-red juice was seeping from the apple. "Poison apple", Alice said, shaking her head. "Will she ever learn?" A lone figure gently kicked Snow White, her glass slipper gleaming in the moonlight. Cinderella! Far away, a clock tower chimed twelve. Cinderella fell to the ground, in her back an arrow coated with sleeping serum. Robin Hood stepped out, removing the arrow, grabbing the remains of Cinderella's belongings. He looked at Alice and wordlessly sent the arrow into her arm! Alice sunk to her knees and fell into blackness, once again! When she woke up, a white rabbit carrying a watch, was hopping nearby her. He pointed to the watch and she fainted - back into her own Wonderland!
Tamer

Danielle K:

Danielle drew her story as a a cartoon but this is how the story went:

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again	Little Miss Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Little Miss Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Little Miss Humpty together again	Baby Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Baby Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Baby Humpty together again
Super hero Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Super hero Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Super hero Humpty together again	Harry Potter Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Harry Potter Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Harry Potter Humpty together again	Supermodel Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Supermodel Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Supermodel Humpty together again
Hard boiled Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Hard boiled Humpty Dumpty had a great fall The king couldn't be bothered trying to put him together again, so he ate him for breakfast!

Construction Key

The Tikipunga kids one week and then the Dargaville kids another week, were involved in a technology challenge. They were given a certain amount of materials and had 3 minutes to collect them. These were: 6 sheets of newspaper, 2 iceblock sticks, 1 metre sellotape, 1 metre string, 6 small boxes, 2 paper cups and the choice of doubling one of those.
Mission - To build the tallest construction you can in 30 minutes. The construction must be free-standing and the measurement will go from the floor to the tallest part of your construction.

Mission completed? - Some teams found this mission quite hard but all persisted to come up with a construction. Here are some of the teams completing this mission:

Tikipunga Kids

Tikipunga kids	Kahu and Benny working hard on construction	Liam and Levi problem solving, thinking critically.
Liam persisting with his group's construction	Kahu, James and Benny with mission accomplished	TJ carefully adding another layer
Too tall to photograph all at once!	Campbell adds more	A sturdy base
Kaleb stablises his team's construction	As tall as the cupboard!

Northern Wairoa Kids

Northern Wairoa kids	Michaela, Ashlee, Timothy and Edmund are proud of their final structure	Brooklyn working hard to stablise their structure
Another stable beginning	Cooper and the 2 Lukes collaborate on their structure	Concentration by Tamer, Grace and Laura
Darryn and Conor working well together	 Danielle and Tania work hard while Caitlin supervises!	A very high construction which managed to stay standing

Easter

For most of this week I was sick in bed and so the kids had a wonderful relieving teaching. They had asked if they could have Easter-type activities to do. Here is one story which was in response to this thinking task:

In another dimension on the other side of the Universe, the Easter symbol is actually a shining golden dinosaur. Create an intriguing legend that explains the origin of this symbol.
The Easter Dino:
A long time ago, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I'm sure you've heard that velociraptors stole eggs. Scientists tell you they eat them, but that isn't true! They take the eggs to a far off kingdom, where The Easter Dino lives.

He decorates the eggs with footprints and vines, coats them in mud, and brings them to the velociraptors who store them for Easter, and then they around, giving eggs to all the Dinosaurs.

They say that when the meteor hit Earth, the Easter Dino stayed behind, trying to save all of the eggs. Some people believe that, and some say he is still alive, getting foxes to steal chicken eggs for him and then he decorates them with more modern things, such as ribbons or edible paints. And instead of coating them in mud, he coats them in delicious chocolate and sends the foxes out to give happiness for the children of the earth.

Nobody knows where the Easter Dino lives, but every Easter, there is an incredible roar and it starts raining chocolate eggs! After the egg-rain stops, there is a shadow of a Dinosaur, walking away with an army of foxes, running off to their burrows with chocolate eggs.